The major marathon runner launches world record bid

A runner who took on a prestigious global race series has broken the world record for the fastest marathon by an athlete with hemiplegia.

Andrew Tomlinson, who has paralysis on his left side, finished the London Marathon in April in a time of 3:58:53 – almost two hours faster than the previous best.

On the same day the financial assistant, from Glasgow, collected his Six Star Finisher medal for completing the World Marathon Majors.

Mr Tomlinson, who has hypertonic cerebral palsy, embarked on the epic challenge in 2021 when he ran the Berlin Marathon.

The Bellahouston Road Runner completed the New York City Marathon the following year before ticking off Boston and Chicago in 2023.

And after finishing Tokyo in March he earned his sixth star in London and joined a club of only 17,026 runners worldwide.

After a traumatic birth doctors feared Mr Tomlinson would never walk but he is now thought to be first runner with cerebral palsy to earn the coveted medal.

He told BBC Scotland News: “It’s actually just emotional thinking about it because every challenge I’ve had, every barrier that’s been put up, it proves that anything is possible.”

Filmed by Alan Ritchie and Paul O’Hare and edited by Georgina Davies.